Anniversary
by Deaf Angel
Summary: "He had been chasing the kid for almost two years. In fact tomorow would be the two year mark. Not that he was counting or anything." Just a little one-shot that was on my mind. Set pre-series. NO SLASH! R&R!


_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**_

Agent Peter Burke was home for the first time in two weeks. Hughes had convinced him to take some well needed time off from chasing the ever elusive Neal Caffrey. He had been chasing the kid for almost two years now. In fact tomorrow would be the two year mark. Not that he was counting or anything.

His wife had started referring to Caffrey's case file as his "other women". She always said it with a smile, to let him know that she was only joking, but he couldn't help feeling bad that he was spending more time chasing this criminal than with his own wife. He sighed, thinking he would have to do something special with her sometime soon, to make up for it.

He and El had gone out to dinner and then come back home for a movie, and for the night, Peter had almost forgotten about Caffrey. Almost. After the movie, he and his wife had gone upstairs and she had fallen asleep almost immediately. He had laid awake for a while until he couldn't stand it anymore. He was now looking down at Caffrey's open case file on his desk. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something important.

Peter sat reading and re-reading the file, until his wife came down the stairs and stood in the doorway. "How's she doing?" Elisabeth asked, referring to the case. Peter looked up, surprised. He shook his head, "Not good. I practically have this file _memorized_, but I can't shake the feeling that he's going to try something tonight, and this," here he shook the file, frustrated, "is the only thing I have on him to study so I can try and figure it out."

His wife walked over and stood behind him, rubbing circles in his back. "Maybe you just need to give it a rest, Peter," she said, softly, "If he's going to try something tonight, than he will and you can study the crime scene in the morning. But right now, your other woman is just going to have to wait. Your _mine_ tonight." Peter looked back at her and mirrored her smile. "Okay," he relented, and let her drag him upstairs, back to their bedroom.  
*LineBreak*  
Peter woke the next morning to the sounds of his wife getting in the shower. He stretched, smiling, refreshed from a fitful night's sleep. He grabbed his robe and started down the hall, towards the stairs. As he passed the guest room, he noticed that the door was partially open. He paused for a moment then decided that he must have been snoring, and El must have gone to sleep in there for a bit. He resolved to ask her about it when she got out of the shower.

When he got down stairs, he was surprised to find that the coffee pot was not full. He shrugged, putting this down as a consequence of El getting up before him. That is, until he looked out the window and saw Neal Caffrey sipping coffee on his patio. Caffrey spotted him, blinked, gave him a little wave, and smiled. While Peter scrambled for his gun or his handcuffs, Caffrey looked at him reprovingly. The conman held up both, the look on his face the picture of innocence.

Peter walked out onto his patio, glaring daggers at the conman. Caffrey just smiled. "Lovely day, isn't it Peter?" Caffrey asked lightly, as if they were old friends meeting for the first time in forever. "It would be if you gave me back my handcuffs and let me take you in," Peter growled, sitting across from Caffrey. Caffrey chuckled, shaking his head. "You know I can't let you do that, Peter." Peter snorted, "Yeah, well, it was worth a shot. And stop calling me Peter, Caffrey. It's Agent Burke, to you."

Caffrey smiled, "But, we've known each other for, what? Two years now? I think we should be on a first name basis by now, don't you?" "No, I don't." Peter deadpanned. Caffrey's smile never faltered. "Why are you here?" Peter wasn't just stalling for time so he could think up a plan on how to call in and tell them that Caffrey was sitting on his patio, he really did want to know what the kid was doing at his house.

"Well, I was board and..." "You break into a federal agent's just because your _board?_" Peter interrupted. Caffrey looked at him like 'uh, yeah.' Peter recognized it as the look he often saw on teenagers whenever he had to interview them as witnesses. Peter shook his head, saying, "Go on." Caffrey took a sip of coffee and continued. "Like I said before I was so rudely interrupted, I was board and I realized that today is our two year anniversary, so I decided to pay you a little visit. Kate just wanted me to send you a fruit basket, but I thought I'd come in person," he finished with a shrug, smiling at the man he referred to as his "personal stalker".

Peter smiled too, but for an entirely different reason. "Kate?" He asked the conman. Caffrey's smile disappeared, his face going blank, as hard and stone like as the statues that he occasionally stole. Allegedly occasionally stole. 'He didn't mean to say that,' Peter thought to himself, his smile growing into a grin. He took a sip of his coffee, which was growing cold, never taking his eyes off the conman sitting across from him.

Before Peter could push the subject of Kate, Caffrey looked past him and into his house. Peter watched as the conman blinked, smiled, and waved, much as he had done when he had first seen Peter that morning. Peter looked behind him, expecting to see Elisabeth standing in the kitchen, but she wasn't there. Peter's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who were you..." he started to ask, turning back towards Caffrey. But, Caffrey wasn't there anymore.

"Damnit!" Peter slammed his fist down on the table, frustrated that Caffrey had managed to fool him and escape again. He looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but to no avail. "Damnit!" He said again. "Honey?" His wife really was standing in the kitchen when he turned around this time. "He got away!" Peter said, angry with himself that he had let it happen.

"Who got away?" El asked, confused. Peter didn't answer, but his silence seemed to tell her all she needed to know. "Oh, Peter. He was here?" She asked, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He nodded, sighing in defeat. "I can't even catch him when he's sitting on my own patio, drinking my coffee, and holding my gun and handcuffs in front of my face. He probably took them with him." Peter closed his eyes, sighing again. He knew Caffrey didn't like gun but he'd probably taken it just to spite him. And what Caffrey would do with the handcuffs, Peter just didn't want to know.

El pulled the chair that had been occupied by Neal Caffrey, not five minutes ago, closer, so she could sit next to her husband instead of across from him, and started to sit down. She stopped when she felt something already on the chair. She looked and saw her husband's gun and handcuffs, along with a note. "Peter? He didn't take them with him, they're right here. And it looks like he left you a note," she picked the gun up carefully, set it on the table, then put the handcuffs next to it. She slipped the note into Peter's hand.

He opened his eyes and unfolded the small square of paper. It read,  
"Dearest Peter,

I would just like to say, happy two year anniversary! May you continue chasing me for many more years!

Forever yours, NC

P.S. your guest bedroom is very nice. I appreciate you letting me stay there last night, though you might not have known that you were. Also, your coffee was very good. Tell Elisabeth that she did a fantastic job with the coffee."

Peter allowed himself a small smile at the note, and then handed it to El so she could read it as well.

She laughed when she got to the part about the coffee, shaking her head at what the conman had written. "Well," she said, looking at Peter, "you knew he was going to try something last night." She smiled. Peter shook his head, laughing, "Yeah, I guess I did." He walked into his house with his arm around his wife. Soon he would find out who this Kate was, but now, he was going to enjoy his day off with his wife.  
*LineBreak*  
**AN: So, I know I should be updating my other story, but my brother got me really into White Collar. I've been watching it on Netflix, like, from the beginning, so I've only just watched Home Invasion (episode 11, season 1). It's gotten to the point where my Mom bribes me with episodes, so I get my chores done. Like, once I get all my chores done, I can watch an episode, after I do my homework; I can watch an episode, stuff like that. I even cleaned my room so I could watch an episode! And I never clean my room! So, anyway, I'm not really up to speed on what's happening *now* on the show. This is just something that came to mind one night when I was supposed to be writing a history paper, (so I could watch an episode, lol) and I figured you all might want to see it.******

**And, sorry if anyone is a little OOC. It's my first White Collar fic, so I'm still getting a feel for how transfer characters from my TV screen to a document on my computer.******

**Oh, and did anyone get the mini Frozen reference? Probably not, it's kind of tiny but, I tried. =) ******

**Please don't forget to review! Reviews are like candy to me! I can't get enough!**


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